Summary
This paper deals with current critiques of the ‘natural scientific approach’ in mainstream psychology. The links to the alleged models of either evolutionary biology or physics are critically examined. The idea of an antiscientism avoiding the metaphysical opposition of ‘science’ and ‘humanities’ is sketched out. The paper ends with some implications regarding ‘theoretical psychology’.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Angell, J. R. (1907). The province of functional psychology. Psychological Review, 14, (2), 61–91.
Baldwin, J. M. (1895). Mental development In the child and the race: Methods and processes. New York: Macmillan.
Bischof, N. (1981). Aristoteles, Galilei, Kurt Lewin-und die Folgen. In W. Michaelis (Ed.), Bericht über den 32. Kongress der DGfP in Zürich 1980, (pp. 17–39). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Boring, E. G. (1950). A history of experimental psychology. New York: Appleton -Century- Crofts.
Bühler, K. (1918). Die geistige Entwicklung des Kindes. Jena: Fischer.
Danziger, K. (1979). The positivist repudiation of Wundt. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 15, 205–230.
Darwin und die Evolutionstheorie [Special issue]. (1982). Dialektik 5. Köln: Pahl-Rugenstein.
Engels, F. (1971). Dialektik der Natur. In Marx Engels Werke (Vol. 20, pp. 307–620 ). Berlin (GDR): Dietz.
Giorgi, A. (1970). Psychology as a human science. New York: Harper & Row.
Jüttemann, G. (Ed.). (1985). Psychologie in der Veränderung. Weinheim: Beltz.
Jüttemann, G. (1986). Vorbemerkungen des Herausgebers. In G. Jüttemann (Ed.), Die Geschichtlichkeit des Seelischen (pp. 7–27 ). Weinheim: Beltz.
Koch, S. (1959). Epilogue. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science (Vol. 3, pp. 729–788 ). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Koch, S., & Leary, D. E. (Eds.). (1985). A century of psychology as science. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Krueger, F. (1915). Über Entwicklungspsychologie. Leipzig: Engelmann.
Külpe, O. (1893). Grundriss der Psychologie. Leipzig: Engelmann.
Lewin, K. (1931). The conflict between Aristotelian and Galilean modes of thought in contemporary psychology. Journal of General Psychology, 5, 141–177.
Mackenzie, B. D. (1976). Darwinism and positivism as methodological influences on the development of psychology. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 12, 330–337.
Maiers, W. (1987). The historical approach of critical psychology: another case of “paradigm promotion”? In W. J. Baker, M. E. Hyland, H. Van Rappard, & A. W. Staats (Eds.), Current issues in theoretical psychology (pp. 175–188 ). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Marx, K. (1964). Economic and philosophical manuscripts of 1844. New York: International Publishers.
Rychlak, J. F. (1987). The concept of telosponsivity: answering an unmet need in psychology. In W. J. Baker, M. E. Hyland, H. Van Rappard, & A. W. Staats (Eds.), Current issues in theoretical psychology (pp. 247–260 ). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Stern, W. (1914/1930). Psychologie der frühen Kindheit. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer.
Titchener, E. B. (1929). Systematic psychology: prolegomena. New York: Macmillan.
Toulmin, S., and Leary, D. E. (1985). The cult of empiricism in psychology, and beyond. In S. Koch, & D. E. Leary (Eds.), A century of psychology as science (pp. 594–617 ).
Van Strien, P. J. (1987). Model disciplines, research traditions, and the theoretical unification of psychology. In W. J. Baker, M. E. Hyland, H. Van Rappard, & W. W. Staats (Eds.), Current issues in theoretical psychology (pp. 333–344 ). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Werner, H. (1926). Einführung in die Entwicklungspsychologie. Leipzig: Barth.
Wundt, W. (1896). Grundriss der Psychologie. Leipzig: Kröner.
Wundt, W. (1907). Über Ausfrageexperimente und über die Methoden zur Psychologie des Denkens. Psychologische Studien III, 301–360.
Wundt, W. (1912). Elemente der Völkerpsychologie: Grundlinien einer psychologischen Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit. Leipzig: Kröner.
Wundt, W. (1917). Völkerpsychologie und Entwicklungspsychologie. Psychologische Studien, 10, 189–238.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Maiers, W. (1988). Has Psychology Exaggerated Its “Natural Scientific Character”?. In: Baker, W.J., Mos, L.P., Rappard, H.V., Stam, H.J. (eds) Recent Trends in Theoretical Psychology. Recent Research in Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3902-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3902-4_14
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-96757-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3902-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive